Gautam Gambhir reveals why he had thought of retiring after 2007 World Cup

Gautam Gambhir was an integral part of Team India's successful campaign in 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ICC World Cup. The 37-year-old also played the two most pivotal knocks in the finals of both the mega-events. Gambhir finished his career with a bagful of runs across all formats of the game, amassing 5238 ODI runs and 4154 Test runs.

However, Gambhir had contemplated retiring from all formats of the game after not getting selected for the 2007 ICC World Cup in West Indies.

“In 2007, when I missed the 50-over World Cup, that was the lowest moment in my cricketing career. I had given up on cricket. Before that, I had missed both U-14 and U-19 World Cups. In 2007 I thought I was the closest to play the World Cup, but when they did not include me in the squad, I had given up on cricket,” Gambhir said at an event as reported by Hindustan Times.

“Then I was chosen in Twenty-20 World Cup in 2007 and I got dismissed for a duck in the first match against Pakistan. But as fate has it, I finished as the leading run-scorer in the World Cup and we ended up winning the tournament so one should never give up,” he further added.

Gambhir, who retired from all forms of cricket in 2018 won from the East Delhi constituency in the Lok Sabha elections after joining the Bhartiya Janata Party.